Wash & Grow: Shampoo can trigger hair growth at twice normal rate say makers

• Huge demand for Fast meaning Fortified Amino Scalp Therapy
• Makers of shampoo say it can help hair grow by two inches every month
• Made from ‘natural herbs and organic amino acids' and stimulates follicles

By LIZ HULL

PUBLISHED: 00:21, 5 January 2013 | UPDATED: 09:20, 5 January 2013

Anyone who has ever regretted a haircut knows it can seem like an age before the offending trim grows out.

But help is at hand – in the form of a shampoo that claims to boost hair length with every wash.

Scientists behind Fast, or Fortified Amino Scalp Therapy, say their product can grow hair by as much as two inches in just one month – double the usual rate.

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Demand: The makers of FAST shampoo and hair conditioner claim it can make hair grow by up to two inches extra a month

And tests suggest the rate of growth increases the longer a person uses the products.

Recovering cancer patients who have lost their hair through chemotherapy are among the shampoo’s dedicated customer base in Canada, where it was formulated. 

It is so popular across the Atlantic that it sold out within 24 hours of its launch.

There is already a 5,000-strong waiting list for the shampoo and conditioner, which goes on sale in the UK on January 23.

Science: The shampoo, made from ¿natural herbs and organic amino acids¿, works by stimulating growth in the follicle

The shampoo, made from ‘natural herbs and organic amino acids’, works by stimulating growth in the follicle.

But while it helps those whose hair has fallen out through cancer, the shampoo is not a remedy for baldness because it cannot stimulate new hair growth, only promote the growth of existing hair.

 

Clinical trials have been carried out over the past 12 months on 1,000 men and women, who were asked to wash their hair with the shampoo and conditioner daily.

They had their hair dyed, photographed and measured for growth every six weeks.

After the first six weeks, the hair of half the subjects tested showed increased growth – on average 17 per cent more than normal. 

However, after another six weeks’ use of Fast all the men and women’s hair had increased growth. On average, after 12 weeks, hair grew 30 per cent faster than usual, although one subject experienced a 99 per cent boost in hair length.

The shampoo and conditioner will cost £24.99 together when they go on sale in Boots.

A Fast spokesman said: ‘We’ve worked hard to find a hair growth solution which is accessible to everyone, including chemotherapy patients.’

Breast cancer sufferer Shirley Huggett, 56, of Tenterden, Kent, tried the shampoo after losing her hair following a course of chemotherapy.

‘My hair started growing again, but I was embarrassed to go out because it was so short,’ she said. ‘I was given a sample of Fast and my hair growth has been unbelievable.

‘It has grown more than two inches in under four weeks.’